Magna International will close its Syracuse, New York, gear assembly plant after workers rejected a modified contract deal that the company said it needed to make the facility competitive.
Around 1,400 people work at the New Process Gear (NPG) plant and a UAW branch spokeswoman told Reuters that 52% of the plant’s employees rejected the contract in a two-day vote that ended last night. The vote was the second since early February in which workers rejected a package of concessions.
After the first vote, Magna said it would close the plant, which it claims loses money.
Union leaders pressed for a new agreement, however, and after a tentative deal was struck, Magna said it would stop the wind-down process if the agreement was ratified.
“This was an extraordinary attempt by the UAW and the NPG management team to craft what could have been a truly competitive agreement,” said NPG general manager Tom Rucker said in a statement cited by the news agency. “I am extremely disappointed that this agreement, which could have given NPG a real opportunity to survive, was voted down.”
The plant, which makes transfer cases for trucks and SUVs, lost US$117m in 2007, according to Reuters. Workers agreed in early 2008 to cut wages and benefits in return for a payment that would ease them into a new hourly wage rate, according to media reports in Syracuse.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
